Relatives, Hostile Takeovers, Soul Mates, etc
by Charon the Sabercat
Summary: The full title is Relatives, Hostile Takeovers, Soul Mates, and a Whole Lot of other Crud. That's pretty much the summary too. FINALLY! WE'RE FINISHED HERE! THIS STORY IS DONE!
1. Awkward Intros: Who knew Lil had a Bro?

Relatives, Hostile Takeovers, Soul Mates, and a Whole Lot of Other Crud  
  
A sudden outbreak of a Higher Being virus breaks out and infects nearly every Higher Being on the planet. A deranged Higher Being thinks Lilly is his soul mate. That and Lilly's brother and cousin come to visit!? This can't be good. Originally going to be something else, but it turned into this based on requests from Lilliyati-Tomo (did I spell it right?). ON with the show!  
  
Firrz, devourer of humans? Gorgon's getting out of the EMP ball? Cedric JUST NOW revealing that he could "talk" to "ghosts". Come on, it all pointed to some higher force at work here. Everything in her mind was telling her "humans can't talk to ghosts", and "this isn't possible". The events of the past 2 weeks, that kidnapper, that boy was a mystery to her...  
  
Speaking of which, Cedric was sneaking up behind her. She could hear him, smell him, but unlike her other lower beings, she couldn't sense him. It struck her as odd. She ignored the knowing sniggers of the others and tried to rationalize just why she could detect Cedric with all of her other senses and not her higher one-  
  
"YAH!"  
  
Cedric laughed as he pushed the humanoid Higher Being into the smoothie machine. "Switch it on, Do-Wah! Switch it on!"  
  
Do-Wah laughed and pulled down the smoothie lever, switching on the machine. "Ha ha huh huh huh hey! Hey, Lil, strawberry jacuzzi!"  
  
B-Bop clapped happily. "It's just like Good Burger!"  
  
The lower beings laughed, 2-T nearly choking on a piece of cheeseburger he had forgotten to swallow. Do-Wah flinched as Lilly threw some alien expletives at him.  
  
"Oo! Potty mouth!" he guffawed.  
  
"You're way too uptight, Lilly!" Cedric giggled. "Loosen up!"  
  
Lilly punched open the smoothie machine, letting Cedric rest on top of the metal lid. "YOU need to get some kind of idea of self CONTROL! Geez, you remind m- oops."  
  
Mike suddenly snapped into attention. "Oops?"  
  
Lilly disappeared, letting Cedric slam down onto the smoothie machine with a loud BANG and an "OW!"  
  
"Wait, Lil, who does Cedric remind you of?" B-Bop asked, following an invisible form from one side of the room to the other. Lilly appeared hovering above Mike's head.  
  
"How'd you know where I was?" she asked questioningly.  
  
"Who does Cedric remind you of?" B-Bop repeated, becoming noticeably frustrated. "I want to know!"  
  
"Just a relative." Lilly twirled her hair, shrugging off the question but still mentally wearing the burden. "A distant relative."  
  
KABOOM!  
  
"AAH!"  
  
The humans huddled into a corner while the Martians took up a defensive stance in front of them. Lilly floated into the air, her nose twitching; she was smelling for the enemy. Just a few seconds later-  
  
There was a loud thumping sound from the outside of the Quantum Burger door.  
  
"Someone's trying to break in!" Angela whimpered, clutching her limp arm in fear. Her mind made the connection of criminals to guns, and she was not about to take another bullet.  
  
"We'll hold 'em off," 2-T said as he readied his gauntlet. "Don't worry."  
  
"LILLY!"  
  
And they froze. Whoever was on the other side was calling Lilly. The six heroes immediately turned their gaze to her. Lilly was pale as a polar bear and (somehow) getting whiter.  
  
"Who are they?" B-Bop whispered.  
  
"Just be quiet, and maybe they'll leave," Lilly hushed him.  
  
"LILLY OTHALLY AMADUES! YOU LET US IN!"  
  
"That sounds familiar," Mike mused.  
  
Cedric shook his shoulder and whispered into Mike's ear. "That's Lilly's old name! You know, from when we first met her?"  
  
Angela raised an eyebrow. "It is?"  
  
Cedric couldn't answer; Lilly had began shoving them out of the back door. "Everybody back to Zapz, now!"  
  
***  
  
Lilly slammed herself against Zapz's front door, smashing it shut. "WATASHI NO BAKA DESU!" She shouted at herself. "Soy tal idiota! Je suis un tel idiot! I! AM! SUCH! AN! IDIOT!"  
  
"What's wrong?" Mike asked, sitting himself on a sofa. "Who was that?"  
  
"Someone I don't want you to meet!" Lilly wiped a large amount of sweat from her forehead. "Every person who I introduce to- to- to HIM has- it's-"  
  
She growled like a typical teenager would and slammed herself down on the floor, holding her head and moaning. "This is all a bad dream. He'll go away soon."  
  
B-Bop stood in front of his friend, his interest peaked and his curiosity gnawing at him. "Lilly? Who was that?"  
  
"Um..." The "Saturnian" nervously nibbled on the tip of her tail. "Uh... you know back when I said that you reminded me of a relat- GECK!"  
  
The door suddenly crashed down on top of her, and a black and yellow flash rushed in and slammed in B-Bop, knocking him to the floor. He heard Angela and 2-T scream, but what he saw was...  
  
Something that looked like... kind of... I dunno... a bat?  
  
It was just about his height, at least. It had a rounded face with a nose and ears of a cat and the eyes and mouth of a human. The head and neck of the thing was covered in white fur, while from the chest down, it was black. Although the white fur on its head was short, the black fur was long and luxurious (like a Persian cat), and it obscured the thing's body type very well. It pinned B-Bop down with two pawed legs and a set of raccoon- esque hands, while a set of bat-wings sprouted out of its back. A stubby, triangular tail had its beginnings at the thing's hips and met its point not far past where his legs met. One thing about this... one thing was unmistaken; it had Lilly's lavender eyes.  
  
"Woah!" B-Bop tried to shuffle away, but the bat-creature kept him down. His entire body wagged with the force of his wagging tail.  
  
"Hello!"  
  
B-Bop stopped struggling and stared at the creature which, come to think of it, exuded the friendly nature of a dog. He smiled weakly. "Hey."  
  
The creature stuck out his hand. "I'm Christobe."  
  
"Christobe" then got shot off of B-Bop by a photon beam.  
  
"You get off of him!" 2-T shouted, still holding up his gauntlet.  
  
"Akata!" 2-T was then tackled by another little animal thing; this one had the lower body of a kangaroo and the upper body of a little girl. Her facial features were delicate and soft, but her muscles were very large and pronounced. She did not have the hands of a human; she had two-fingered, toe-like digits. She wore a white t-shirt with some kind of unidentifiable blue-and-pink swirly designed decaled onto it. Both the furry lower half of her and the hair on her head was colored a frail gold.  
  
2-T struggled to push the kangaroo child off of him, but she sat on him with all the weight of another Martian; odd, because she was half his size. "(grunt) What are you?"  
  
"Oo cho!" she giggled.  
  
Lilly wasted no time in grabbing the kangaroo girl in her arms and turning her upside down. The kangaroo child giggled happily, but also lost some of her energy in the process; she stopped squirming. "What are you doing here? Where's-" Lilly suddenly looked up and saw Christobe trying to shake hands with Mike. "NO!"  
  
"Hi, I'm Christobe!" Christobe shook Mike's hand with enthusiasm, ignoring the human male's odd looks and his friends stifled giggles. Without warning, Lilly caught his wings in her tail and pulled him into her, placing him in a headlock.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Lilly repeated. "I'm asking you politely!"  
  
"Who are they?"  
  
Lilly sighed and went to answer 2-T's question. "Remember when I said you reminded me of a relative?"  
  
"You never told them about us, did you?" Christobe giggled. "Don't lie, I know you."  
  
"Arrroone boo cho!" Kangaroo child spoke a different language entirely, but her tone of voice suggested that she was agreeing with Christobe. She had a funny way of holding out her 'R's, making in sound like she was purring or growling.  
  
"What? Lil, how do they know you?" B-Bop was now feeling angry, cheated, and slightly offended. "Who are they?"  
  
Lilly sighed again, lowered her head, and began. She bounced Kangaroo Child in her arm. "This is Zanna."  
  
"Ajjin boh!" she squealed happily. Zanna swung her arms playfully towards Christobe.  
  
"And this..." Lilly yanked on Christobe's wings, making him yelp in shock, "Is Christobe. He's mah babehbothah..."  
  
Do-Wah didn't quite catch it; come to think of it, nobody did. "Huh?"  
  
"Say it LOUD, Lilly!"  
  
Lilly sighed AGAIN, took a deep breathe and slowly worded, "He's my baby brother!"  
  
Christobe wrenched himself out of his sister's grasp and shouted. "Not a baby anymore! Not a baby anymore! I just turned 1000 yesterday!"  
  
Christobe did some sort of weird twirling thing with his wings and bowed. "And now that I'm old enough, I get to visit you for Sister's Day! And I brought Zanna!"  
  
"Ata!" Zanna wiggled to free herself as well, but Lilly squeezed her ankles and hissed a harsh "Be quiet".  
  
Of course, the kids and Martians were completely in awe.  
  
"No way!" 2-T shouted, a smile crossing his face.  
  
"I never knew you had a brother!" Angela stated. She shook Christobe's open hand. "That's so cool!"  
  
"What about your sister?" Mike asked.  
  
"Zanna is not my sister," Lilly groaned, her entire body limp in defeat. "Zanna is my cousin. My distant cousin."  
  
"But I love her like a sister!" Christobe hugged the upside-down Zanna. "And me and her decided to visit you 'cause it's Sister's Day on Melator and meet your lower beings 'cause we don't have any!"  
  
Lilly made herself invisible. "Whoop-dee do."  
  
***  
  
"All of these hints and she still doesn't notice me? The only thing I know about her is her love of power, of control. There must be some way... mmm, but there are more powerful beings on that world, beings that could easily trounce any of my efforts to catch her attention. Hmm... of course! Why didn't I think of it before?"  
  
***  
  
"So, where are you from?" Mike asked Christobe. "Saturn?"  
  
"I'm from Nateto," answered the anthro-bat. "Lilly was born on Saturn. Zanna was born on a Tamaranian cruiser, but she's got the body of a Qanateite."  
  
"Uh..." Mike tried his best to hide his confusion. "Okay?"  
  
"Okay, you two, we're going to the Easter parade a little later today." Lilly spoke to both her brother and her cousin, although she was looking at neither; she had her vision focused on a computer monitor. "Practice your human forms, and don't eat any sugar. I don't want people noticing that you're Higher beings."  
  
"OKAY!" Christobe yelled over his shoulder. He snapped his fingers and turned into a black-haired human boy with baggy, white clothes.  
  
"Matee coo rooko?" Zanna whined, hiding behind B-Bop for no discernable reason.  
  
"Yes, Zanna, you have to," Lil growled.  
  
"Humph." Zanna pushed herself into the Commander Martian's back and pouted. B-Bop gave her a vacant pat on the head.  
  
"You're a little rough on them, aren't you?" Cedric asked Lilly, noticing Zanna's unhappy state. "I mean, they're kids."  
  
"They need to be taught discipline, just like I did when I was a kid." Lilly rested herself on her tail, snapping her fingers and transforming into her University Of Arizona persona. "Besides, these two are completely insane, and I can't risk being found out AGAIN or I'll get another demerit on my Higher Being report slip!"  
  
"Lilly tooseke nadta na," is what Zanna whispered into B-Bop's ear before switching to a little human girl in a jumpsuit. This was one of the few languages B-Bop didn't know, so there was no way to decipher what she was saying.  
  
***  
  
The mixed assembly of lower and Higher beings sat on top of a large building, watching the parade floats inch by as the crowd cheered. One float shaped like a volcano sprayed candy into the crowd and onto the rooftops of many other buildings (but not theirs; it was too far down the street). As Mike and the Martians cheered, Angela and Lilly concentrated on keeping the hyperactive Zanna and Christobe settled.  
  
"OHMYGOSH, WE'REATAREALLIVEEARTHPARADEWEEEEEEEEEEE!"  
  
"MEEGATOOMAJEENABATAKOOTATAWEEEEEEEEE!"  
  
"WE'REGONNACATCHSOMECANDYANDIT'SGONNABELIKEWEEEEEEEE!"  
  
"MEEGATOOLAWEEEEEEEEEEE!"  
  
"Hush it, Christobe! Zanna, stop encouraging him!" Lilly slammed her hand over the hyper kids' mouths. "We're gonna get found out!"  
  
Mike sighed. "We're on top of a building! No one's gonna look for him!"  
  
Do-Wah clasped his hands happily. "Yeah! And we get all the candy the volcano thing spouts out that nobody else can catch! Alright!"  
  
"CANDY!" 2-T cheered, punching the air with both hands.  
  
"Candy!" Christobe wiggled out of Lilly's grip and began to chant. "Candycandycandycandycandycandycandycandy!"  
  
"Candee!" Zanna clapped. "Catcheecandykayyotay!"  
  
KABOOM!  
  
"The volcano's getting closer, come on guys!"  
  
All of the humans responded to Cedric's call and hurried forward, leaving Lilly alone with her two relatives. They stuck their tongues out at her and ran to their human friends, leaving her to curse them out mentally.  
  
***  
  
Jade eyes focused upon the vulnerable humans. Flesh and blood. Cartilage and bone. The scent of their breath raced through his nose, causing his mouth to ware. Flesh, blood, bone, but one smell caught his attentions more vividly. An empty, gaseous, hot aroma; the fragrance intangible, something only he could smell.  
  
Higher Being energy.  
  
His master appeared out of the corner of his eye. He was a slim humanoid with skin literally as black as obsidian. His silver eyes focused on a figure in the distance, completely ignoring the minion beside him. He was covered head to toe in a black cloak, which accentuated his cloud-white hair. The hair was long and luxurious, pulled back into a ponytail; it would have been very easy to forget that he was a male. His face was pointed and sharp, every single feature chiseled and precise.  
  
A long, lanky, leather-bound hand reached out of the cloak and pointed to the humans. "Eat. Get any other Higher Beings out of the way."  
  
***  
  
"ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"  
  
"What the plickum?" B-Bop raised his head to the skies, his vision met by a red ribbon-ish thing flying in the sky. "Is that Miles?"  
  
"Miles?" Zanna and Christobe looked upwards and shrieked in fear, hiding behind their confused sister. "AAAA! MILES ESCAPED!"  
  
"What is he doing out in the open?" Cedric asked aloud.  
  
"That has to be against the rules," Angela remarked.  
  
"It is," Lilly whispered. She cupped her hands and shouted to her friend, "MILES! WHAT ARE YOU DOING OUT HERE?!"  
  
Miles responded by dive bombing into the ground, right in the middle of the Easter parade! Humans ran away as Miles the Long Dragon raised his head and let out a tortured roar. His fur was disheveled, his scales were dull, and his teeth were red with (gulp) blood.  
  
Oh yeah, something had gone really, really wrong.  
  
"Miles!" Lilly jumped down and as she did changed into her usually purple jumpsuit. She flew to Miles' eye level. "What are you doing? Where' Ann-"  
  
And that's when she noticed; Miles' eyes were gone! They had been replaced by an empty socket from which an eerie green glow radiated. As Miles moved his head, the glow would fade in and out- it was a iridescent gas!  
  
"WOAH!" Lilly flew backwards with shock. "That's not natural!"  
  
***  
  
Tall, juicy Higher Being, yes!  
  
"NO!"  
  
Miles hissed as his master shouted into his head. "Do not lay one claw on that girl! Get her brother and cousin!"  
  
His head swiveled to the ground where the two Higher Beings and six lower ones were trying to run away.  
  
"Hmm... on second thought, lead the lower beings to our spot in the desert. But go ahead and eat the little ones."  
  
***  
  
Miles was going after the kids!  
  
B-Bop, 2-T, and Do-Wah turned around and began to fire at the dragon beast, but he flew right over them and started snapping at Zanna's tail.  
  
"Christobe!" Zanna cried. "Tajata!"  
  
"OH no!" Christobe picked up a rock and threw it at Miles, who barely even acknowledged it. However, it gave Zanna a chance to hop onto her cousin's back. He spread his wings and took off, leaving the human's behind.  
  
Lilly formed an energy ball and shot it into Miles' non-eye. He snarled but kept going after Christobe and Zanna, who were much farther ahead. She hovered down to the ground, letting her lower beings flock around her.  
  
"What the plickum happened to Miles?" 2-T near shrieked.  
  
"I dunno!" Lilly rubbed her hands together nervously. "But he's after Christobe and Zanna and he's got no eyes and- wait. Uh oh."  
  
Mike cringed. "Uh oh what?"  
  
CLIFFHANGER! I don't think there are any notes. 


	2. A Higher Battle: Did Naku Go Too Far?

Relatives, Hostile Takeovers, Soul Mates, and a Whole Lot of Other Crud, Part 2  
  
Lilly had immediately demanded that the lower beings retreated back to Zapz and said she would explain everything she could possibly explain. For the second time that day, Lilly found herself slamming the door behind her and pressing her back against it. "This is not my day!"  
  
"What happened with Miles?!" Cedric wheezed, trying desperately to catch his breathe. "He's gone off his rocker!"  
  
"I've got a theory, but-" Lilly was interrupted by the sound of something sharp scraping against concrete. She looked to her feet to see tiny words being scrawled into the floor.  
  
Is hE GoNE YET?  
  
"Christobe's handwriting," immediately shot through Lilly's mind. She shouted out, "ALL CLEAR!"  
  
Zanna and Christobe suddenly burst out of a cardboard box right next to Do- Wah and Mike. The Martian and human jumped away and gave the two other Higher Beings some room; they were breathing heavily, and their faces had turned blue.  
  
"WOAH!" Angela rushed forward and put her hand on Christobe's back, squeezing him into her chest. "What happened to you?"  
  
"He was... following... breathe..." Christobe pointed to his mouth. "Smell... follow... had to stop..."  
  
"Owee tuwoa tobata!" Zanna moaned. "Nee nala!"  
  
"Oh man..." Lilly rubbed her head in fear. "Oh man, this sounds like Ceti Alpha Syndrome Number 5."  
  
"What's that?" asked a curious and thoroughly frightened Mike.  
  
"Higher Being illness," Lilly explained. "Makes whoever is infected by it incredibly violent and susceptible to suggestion. It's kinda like rabies, when you think about it."  
  
"So that's what's gotten into Miles?" 2-T deduced.  
  
"NO!" Lilly surprised the lower beings by shouting at them, "Ceti Alpha Syndrome Number 5 was wiped out years ago! It only exists as an injection you get to keep from getting it, like smallpox! This can't be it! You should know that!"  
  
2-T flinched and looked away, his ego severely bruised. Zanna rubbed against his ribcage to comfort him.  
  
"They're not Higher Beings, Lilly," Christobe argued. "They can't know stuff like that."  
  
"Well, they've been around ME long enough, they shou- WOAH!"  
  
The ground around them began to shake, and the kids all rushed to find something to hold on to. Oddly enough, the earthquake stopped as soon as it started... Then it started again... Then stopped....  
  
"Footsteps!" Angela shouted.  
  
"Can't be!" B-Bop jumped to one of the windows and peered out, staring in confusion before recoiling in shock. "Uh... Scratch that..."  
  
The humans, remaining Martians, and Higher Beings all rushed to the door, flinging it open and daring to look outside.  
  
It was one of the weirdest sights in history, about a hundred different creatures, ranging from humungous dragons to tiny fairies, all parading towards the desert, most by air, some by land, and a few by water. As one humanoid creature walked past them, they were able to get a close-up view of its eyes; no eyes, only a glowing green gas.  
  
Christobe cowered in fear, hiding his face in Zanna's fur. "It IS Ceti Alpha Syndrome Number 5!"  
  
Lilly pointed to a white ribbon of something flying in the sky. "I went to high school with that guy!" She pointed to another thing swimming in the water. "And I was in kindergarten with that one!"  
  
Mike made a mad swipe at a passing pink-and-purple striped tiger, but it made no move to attack, bight, or even acknowledge Mike in any way. "Why aren't these ones attacking?"  
  
"Let's find out!" B-Bop suddenly roared. "Let's go, guys! Follow those Higher Beings!"

&&&

Christobe and Lilly both sniffed the air around them. All they smelled were the warm, baked wispy blasts of air that every now and then would wisp past their nose (along with a few grains of sand). Zanna snuggled herself behind B-Bop and 2-T, listening with her ears perked above their shoulders and her eyes buried into 2-T's uniform.  
  
Christobe stared in awe at the empty desert; despite the huge parade of Higher Beings, there was nothing to be seen for miles! Or of Miles, come to think of it.  
  
"It looks safe..." Lilly whipped her tail.  
  
"Does this mean we can go home now?" Cedric whimpered.  
  
"We should keep looking," Angela suggested.  
  
"I agree." B-Bop stroked the side of his head quickly, to help himself think. "Where should we look next?"  
  
"Maybe we should try over there!" Do-Wah pointed to the left. "Or over there." He pointed to the right, a little less confident in his tone. With a slight waver in his voice, he pointed behind him. "Or... Maybe over there..."  
  
"We've got acres of desert to cover," 2-T reminded his commander. "Even if they are here, we'll never find them."  
  
"We can with Zanna!" Christobe suddenly shouted, his wings flapping out in excitement. "Come on, Zanna, go sniff 'em out!"  
  
"Kee?" Zanna jumped over B-Bop and 2-T and-  
  
BOOM! With a huge kick, she bounded out a least a hundred feet ahead of them! With a few more bounces, she pivoted east, west, north, and south, finally coming to rest in the center of her bouncing circle.  
  
"AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!" Mike cheered. Christobe made the crowd cheering "hreeaaaaah" sound while Lilly slapped her head and sighed.  
  
"Naga teeki!" Zanna stretched and sat down on the sand with a soft thump.  
  
There was a deafening roar; all the Martians heard was the kids screaming in terror before they were suddenly swept forward in a wave of sand! Lilly lifted all of them in her arms and carried them to safety, setting them down near where Zanna was sitting. They lifted their gauntlets and tried to aim at something, but they were suddenly lost in a sea of non-existent eyes. Zanna whimpered and curled herself into a ball, shivering in terror; Lilly formed two purple balls of energy in each hand and placed herself in a fighting stance.  
  
They were trapped in a tight circle of crazed Higher Beings. Most of the beings consisted of mythical creatures, a type of alien, or some kind of animal/human hybrid. Each face was twisted into an evil snarl, the evil green gas of their eyes pouring out of their sockets and down their face. Miles himself lowered his head down to the lower beings level, hissing and spewing curls of fire at the Martians, coming dangerously close to catching one of them on fire.  
  
Of course, none of this scared the Martians in the least, for they had faced situations much worse than this (or, so they thought). The thing that scared them most was the position of the kids, for Mike, Angela, Cedric, and Christobe were currently wrapped in the vines of a hideous looking tree. The terrible tree was the size of a two-story house; a hideous, jagged mouth had been punched into its trunk. Its branches consisted of whipish vines covered in large thorns, and right now those killer vines were wrapped around the humans and Lilly's brother!  
  
"BEHOLD!" yelled a mysterious, masculine voice. "My Higher Army! Is it not amazing what you can do with a bit of power... And a canister of the Ceti Alpha virus?"  
  
"Woah..." Lilly, despite knowing better, let a shiver run up her spine. "Cool..."  
  
A strange being materialized over Miles' head. It was the black-skinned figure from before, but now his cloak was tossed back in the wind, revealing his slim yet muscular body. His obviously well-cut frame was covered by a suit made from straps of shining black leather, making an odd sort-of Final Fantasy effect (for those who have not played Final Fantasy, don't worry about it. For those who have, think that girl from FFX who took care of Yuna and never smiled).  
  
The dark-skinned one chuckled warmly. "Glad to know that I have caught your attention... Finally."  
  
"Finally?" 2-T repeated, looking at B-Bop.  
  
The evil-looking Higher Being bowed in mid-air, smoothly moving aside when Miles tossed his head about. "I am Naku, Conqueror of Worlds, Controller of All Beings Higher-"  
  
He disappeared from view and suddenly reappeared next to Lilly. He held out a black rose. "And suitor of Lilly."  
  
"YAH!" Lilly fired an energy bolt at Naku and flew away. "FREAK! I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!"  
  
B-Bop raised his gauntlet and prepared to shoot Naku, but once again he disappeared and reappeared somewhere else; this time, in front of the kids. He was hovering so close to Mike that B-Bop didn't dare to shoot. "I am surprised that you do not know me by now, my fair Lillitai, for I have been trying to get your attention for the past Earth month now!"  
  
"What's he talking about?" Do-Wah hissed, arm still ready to blast the first thing that moved towards them.  
  
"Uh... Uh..."  
  
_/A wispy black cloud flew out of the human's mouth and into the sky./_  
  
"Firrz!" she chirped without warning.  
  
2-T gasped and pointed at the now-classified-as-evil Naku. "You were possessing him, weren't you?"  
  
"I even picked a human that looked super-stereotypical to cement the deal," Naku chuckled. "Brilliant. I was surprise you didn't realize what I was doing then."  
  
Lilly began to piece things together. "So when I didn't respond, you let Gorgon loose!"  
  
"And killed a person at the same instant so that Cedric would be forced to tell you his little troubling secret," Naku sneered.  
  
2-T began to shake. He thought up the worst Martian curse he could and shouted in at Naku. "EETRO!" He fired a photon beam at Naku. The evil drow- like higher one gracefully swept out of the way-  
  
And the beam hit Christobe instead!  
  
"GAH! Don't hit Christobe, you moron!" Lilly slapped 2-T on the back of the head.  
  
Naku laughed and spread his arms towards the tree. "Meet my proudest creation: The Assassin Vine!"  
  
The tree roared, tightening its already unyielding grip on its captives. Something the Martians noticed right away was that a very large vine was wrapped around all of their necks, large scythe-like thorns pressing into the hollows of their throats.  
  
Angela gave a valiant kick to try and free herself, but to no avail. Naku kept narrating. "Entirely my creation. The Assassin Vine holds anyone it can catch in its vines and slowly" (he made a fist in one hand and clenched it tightly for effect) "squeezes the Life out of them."  
  
"NO!"  
  
B-Bop responded to Do-Wah's shout, "Leave them alone!"  
  
"Not until I get my soul mate!" Naku pointed at Lilly. "She would be mine if she didn't have you to take care of! Attached to you worthless beings by pitiful lower being emotions!"  
  
Lilly blushed and hovered behind B-Bop, a burning rage running through his throat.  
  
"I will not leave this planet," Naku roared, floating into the air. His cape flapped in the wind, his slim hands growing malicious looking claws. "Until the lower beings are my servants and Lilly is my bride!"  
  
And with that, the Higher Beings attacked!  
  
B-Bop immediately was surrounded by 6 blue spirits, each with a thin Egyptian-ish heads (Krazoa Spirits from Star Fox Adventures). He fired a photon beam into each, but they rippled as if they were water and countered with high-pitched screaming sounds, knocking B-Bop to the ground in a haze! The Martian, despite the terrible screech in his ears, shot one Higher Being in the eye socket; her body immediately shattered into pieces and fell to the ground, slowing melting into the sand and leaving nothing but a tiny blue ball of energy.  
  
2-T dodged the sharp horns of Miles while rolling out from underneath the sword of another Higher Being. As often as he could, he would try and catch glimpses of his human friends; they were turning a very bright shade of red and struggling against the vines. He tripped while he was running from a huge bunch of claws and fell on top of Zanna, who had bunched herself up and buried herself in the dirt. 2-T grabbed her waist and pulled her out of the fray. "COME ON!"  
  
Do-wah dodge rolled out of the way of a bolt of lightening and ran into Lilly, who, for whatever reason, wasn't getting attacked. "Lil, we've gotta do BKM! Where's the guys?"  
  
"B-Bop's coming, I'll get 2-T. Stay here." And with that, Lilly flew away, leaving a confused Do-Wah in her wake.  
  
"What? How?" A sharp object brushed past his shoulder. "AH!" He turned around and blasted a sword-wielding Higher Being in the eye, immediately disintegrating him. "There're too many for me to stay here!"  
  
B-Bop skidded to a stop next to him, promptly followed by Lilly throwing 2- T onto the sands before them. "OW! Well thanks a lot, Mrs. Higher-than-thou Being!"  
  
"We've got no time for that now!" B-Bop pulled 2-T to his feet by his shoulders. "Let's go!"  
  
Lilly turned around in mid-air and grabbed an attacking Pegasus by the wing, keeping it from attacking the Martians. "Zanna! Protect them!"  
  
"Ih!" Zanna ran in circles around B-Bop, 2-T and Do-Wah, going faster and faster until she was nothing other than a golden blur. A golden wall of light surrounded the Martians and blinded the attacking Higher Beings, pushing them backwards.  
  
2-T smiled to Do-Wah. "This makes it a whole lot easier."  
  
"B!"  
  
"K!"  
  
"M!"  
  
"What is that?" Naku stared at the golden pillar of energy in the middle of his attacking swarm. "Hmm... No matter. I'm sure it's nothing... Isn't that right, my precious one?"  
  
Lilly cursed in Saturnian and pointed an energy ball at the back of Naku's head. "How did you know I was back here?"  
  
"I am aware of the position of my love at all times." He crooned, holding out his hands dramatically.  
  
Lilly could feel Mike's disgust from where she was hovering; the thought of Mike comically gagging and sticking his tongue out shot through his mind, which made her worry even more that he was being strangled in the tree behind her. "What beef do you have against my lower beings, Naraku?"  
  
"Naku! Naku!" screamed the drow-being. "I am in no way affiliated with that baboon-fur-obsessed lunatic!"  
  
"Whatever! Just leave my beings alone!" Lilly heard the BKM sequence wrapping up. She listened to her Martian pets while Naku kept orating.  
  
"NO! I have to prove to you that my powers are strong enough to win your heart! I must be rid of all distractions!"  
  
"Shut up, weirdo! You're making yourself sound like a stalker!"  
  
A faint gurgling sound behind Lilly suddenly made her blood run cold.  
  
The Higher Beings, sensing a change in their master's concentration, all turned to focus on him. The Martians would have taken this opportunity to attack, but there attention was on the humans.  
  
Mike, Angela, Cedric, and Christobe all fell to the ground, the Assassin Vine finally letting go. As they came to rest on the sands, they showed no signs of movement.  
  
"Wha-? FOOL ASSASSIN VINE!" Naku screamed, flying to the top of the killer tree. "They weren't supposed to die yet!"  
  
2-T's throat suddenly went very tight. He could barely squeeze out his words. "No..."  
  
"Christobe!" Lilly shrieked, holding her hands to her mouth.  
  
"Angela..." Do-Wah reached out his hand, but Angela did not answer him in any way. The four children simply lay on the sands, not breathing... Not moving... Lifeless.  
  
"NO!"  
  
Naku pivoted on his waist only to be met head on with a photon beam, then get blasted into the Assassin Vine by Lilly. Do-Wah personally tied the vines around Naku's throat. B-Bop pointed his fist at Naku's chest. "Any last words, murderer?"  
  
"Yes... I'm not through!"  
  
Naku snapped free of the Assassin Vine and threw B-Bop into the sand. 2-T tried to attack from behind, but the drow snapped around and kicked the dome of his BKM suit, smashing it in and hitting 2-T in the jawbone. Two huge dragon wings snapped out from Naku's cloak- wait a minute, the wings _Were_ his cloak!- and smacked Do-Wah away.  
  
Lilly gasped as Naku floated into the air, his newly introduced wings and an until-now-invisible tail flowing out from behind him. "Well, Lilly, what do you think now?"  
  
Lilly gulped, looking behind Naku for any sign of hope. Her pretty face suddenly broke out into a huge grin.  
  
"THE CAVALRY!"  
  
DONE! Let's see who the cavalry is!  
  
Sorry about the big update gap, but I got addicted to SD Gundam, and then Lilo and Stitch, and I lost inspiration, and I almost lost my tape, and- Well, it's here. We're okay.  
  
Ceti Alpha Syndrome Number 5: Look up Star Trek: Wrath of Khan, find when Khan was stranded, and what he did to Chekov and the other guy. Then you'll get the joke.  
  
I put in the Krazoa Spirits from Star Fox Adventures, an old addiction which I really only concentrate on when Double F's over at my house nowadays.  
  
Happy Belated Birthday, Lilliyati-Tomo! Does that name mean anything specific?

This is the first time I've sucessfully had captioning in a story of mine! COOL! MILESTONE STORY!


	3. The Battle's End: Is it Lilly's End Too?

Relatives, Hostile Takeovers, Soul Mates, and a Whole Lot of Other Crud, Part 3  
  
A huge crowd of unearthly creatures stood out in the expanse of the desert, the largest of which being a silver-plated dragon which stood towards the back of the large crowd. Most of the beasts were some type of dragon, the others being random assortments of creatures with wings or other aliens.  
  
At the front of the group was a tall, green insect-ish alien wearing a long, black suit with a trailing skirt. Her hooved feet swerved backwards from her hips, her long fingers pressed together before her thin neck. Sharp, black eyes scrutinized Naku's vicious attack pose. (Hint: She's Lilo and Stitch's Grand Councilwoman.)  
  
"Naku Calakis Knu'o'hu," she spoke, somehow speaking loud enough for everyone to hear her without sounding like she was yelling. "You are surrounded. Please put down your hands and ground yourself; you are under arrest."  
  
"HA!" laughed Lilly. "The Cavalry! They got their shots! They can't get Ceti Alpha Syndrome Number 5!"  
  
Naku snarled to himself. "I will not surrender myself!"  
  
B-Bop floated up behind him. "Here, ALLOW ME!"  
  
Naku turned around only to be punched in the jaw line, flying into the ground without being able to stop himself.  
  
"Kehzi koo!" shrieked Zanna.  
  
"Ataka!" The green alien pointed at Naku, signaling the other Higher Beings to attack! They rushed forward in a huge stampede, losing sight of the Butt Uglies as they rushed in to join the fight.  
  
Naku was just smacking away a green haired fairy-looking thing when B-Bop sent a missile through his wing. It healed instantly, and Naku shot B-Bop back with an energy blast, not noticing the photon ray to his tail two seconds later. The infected Higher Beings fought against other ones in the Cavalry, putting up a frenzied, unfocused fight and ultimately dropping like flies.  
  
Naku fell two small hands grab onto his tail; Lilly's hands, he could tell, because they had a slight furry texture. He snapped his tail upwards, throwing her into the air behind him, spun around in mid-air, and stopped with our favorite Higher Being in a headlock.  
  
"GAH!" Lilly felt talons growing out of Naku's arm and brushing her neck. "LET ME GO!"  
  
"Lil!" B-Bop skidded to a stop in mid-air, a terrified fear freezing him in his place.  
  
"I am leaving with my bride," Naku hissed, stroking Lilly's long hair. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."  
  
Lilly saw something out of the corner of her eye; a bright yellow beam of energy, and it was headed right towards her! She yelped and disapparated, and the beam instead hit Naku in the jaw. He lurched backwards, and as he right himself, a large silver dragon fell from the sky right on top of him. He was pinned to the ground, flapping his wings desperately in order to escape, but he had a pair of Higher Handcuffs on him before he could say "Lemme go!".  
  
Lilly apparated close to B-Bop and looked about to see what had hit Naku. It was Zanna, who was shaking like a leaf but wearing an expression that said "Wow.... I did something good!". She waved at her older cousin. "Cheebo tu!"  
  
Lilly and B-Bop laughed; the expression on her little face was so adorable!  
  
The green alien forcibly pulled Naku to his feet. "As I said, you are under arrest for multiple accounts of Higher Being endangerment, lower being endangerment, tampering with a controlled substance, and attempted murder."  
  
Naku hissed, pulling his wings back around his neck and making them look like a cloak again. The green one pushed him towards a group of centaurs. "Take him away."  
  
The Martians, a bit dazed and very confused, landed softly on the ground. Lilly followed them, completely silent. The green alien stepped up to the three Martians. "Hello."  
  
The guys weren't sure how to answer; B-Bop held up his hand. "Hey."  
  
Do-Wah pushed in front of B-Bop. "Where's Angela?"  
  
The tall green one tapped her two long fingers on her chin in thought. "Who? Oh, the humans!" Her face suddenly became very worried. "I am afraid you will not be able to see your human friends again."  
  
"What's wrong with them?" 2-T cried.  
  
The woman held her hand out behind her, towards the dieing Assassin Vine. A large yellow Higher Being stood over the root of the tree, looking down upon something with a look of sadness upon his large face.  
  
"Oh no..." B-Bop just remembered how the kids had fallen out of the tree, unconscious and unmoving.  
  
"Angela!" Do-Wah bolted forward as fast as he could, B-Bop and 2-T following without hesitation. Lilly shivered, fearing the worst, and floated after her lower beings.  
  
The yellow Higher Being, which remotely resembled a dinosaur with white cowboy boots and a large head (H.R. Pufnstuff), lifted Angela in his arms and shook her lightly just as Do-Wah zoomed forward. The yellow being looked right past him at the Grand Councilwoman. "Grand Councilwoman! Grand Councilwoman! They're-"  
  
"Give her here!" Do-Wah snatched the human female out of his arms and held her tightly while the councilwoman continued.  
  
"Death by suffocation, I presume?" she asked the yellow one.  
  
B-Bop and 2-T had caught up with Do-Wah just in time to hear "death by suffocation". Their hearts ran cold with dread as some of the blood drained from their faces.  
  
"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" said the yellow one, his arms flung outward for effect. "They're-"  
  
"ACHOO!"  
  
Mike had sneezed.  
  
"GAH!" 2-T jumped back in fear; B-Bop responded with his usual "WOAH!". Do- Wah quivered in fear, nearly dropping Angela on the ground.  
  
"That's what I was trying to tell you," smiled the yellow dragon. "Humans aren't like normal aliens. When they don't get enough oxygen, they go unconscious before they die. The Assassin Vine must've thought they were dead and dropped them. They'll be fine in a few minutes."  
  
"So... Angela's not-?" Do-Wah lifted Angela's face towards his; despite being pale, she was smiling and breathing normally.  
  
"She's be awake before you can say 'I want my lower beings back'."  
  
The Grand Councilwoman chuckled. "I get your point, Mr. Pufnstuff. I will return your lower being to you as soon as I can."  
  
Lilly sniffed the air; she smelled something familiar. "Hey, where's Christobe-EE!"  
  
Her brother slammed into her back and pinned her to the ground, his tail wagging with the force of 40 dogs. "Lilly! I got the idea to play dead from the humans! I'm okay now, aren't you glad?"  
  
Lilly sighed. "Never been happier," she monotoned.  
  
She heard Zanna's airy giggle behind her and sighed again. "Maybe I should've left you in the tree."  
  
"B-BOP!"  
  
B-Bop turned his head just in time to see Mike tackle him to the ground. He hugged the younger teen tightly, not realizing he was crying when he did. "Mike! You're okay!"  
  
"Do you see me up there?" asked Mike, his voice suspiciously tight. "I was fighting the tree, I wasn't scared at all! You saw it, right?"  
  
B-Bop could feel it now; his cheek was wet, which meant Mike was crying too. He sniffled a bit, "Sure you weren't, Mike. Sure you weren't."  
  
Michael gave B-Bop one more squeeze before letting go. B-Bop turned around to see Angela and Cedric latched onto Do-Wah and 2-T, each getting a strong hug and a worried flurry of questions. B-Bop noticed that their arms and necks were badly bruised from the Assassin Vine's ... uh... vines.  
  
"Hey, Lilly said that they were gonna bring the Higher Being's kids back to them!" Cedric suddenly yelped. "Wanna see if they have anybody we know?"  
  
"Oo, that'd be cool!" Angela cheered, adjusted her limp arm.  
  
"Hey, B-Bop, where's Lilly?" 2-T nudged B-Bop's shoulder. "She should come too."  
  
"Haven't seen her," B-Bop sadly admitted.  
  
Do-Wah growled madly. "She's never around when we want her to be! I mean, come on, what could she be doing right now?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
Do-Wah jumped as a little voice addressed him, followed by a tap on his shoulder. A short boy, around ten, dressed in blue pants and a pink shirt and hat stood behind him. His brown hair was a bit messy underneath his hat, but he looked cute despite his big buck-teeth.  
  
"Uh, hi, my name's Timmy Turner. I'm here looking for my-" (he did the quotation mark things with his fingers) "Higher Beings, Cosmo and Wanda. Have you seen them?"  
  
The six of them shook their heads, but only Cedric was smart enough to ask what they looked like.  
  
"Cosmo's got green hair, Wanda's got pink hair, both of them are really short, have wands, wings, and floaty crowny things! Have you seen them now?!"  
  
"Nope, sorry." Cedric shrugged.  
  
"Come on, guys, let's go home." 2-T turned around and began to walk away before Timmy latched himself to his waist.  
  
"PLEASE! Don't leave me!" Timmy began to sob exaggeratedly. "I was just at home trying to play video games when all of the sudden I'm here in the middle of the desert surrounded by big, tall, bulgy people who're saying that Cosmo and Wanda were in some kinda momentous battle, and I've gotta find them by myself and then they leave, and I'm alone, and lost, and-"  
  
"Okay, okay!" 2-T pushed the boy off of him. "You can stay with us until you find your Higher Being."  
  
Timmy grabbed into 2-T again. "THANK YOU!"  
  
"STOP DOING THAT!"  
  
"It's Kohaku! KOHAKU!" Lilly waved her hand strongly towards the small, white Japanese dragon. A short girl with fussy brown hair tied back in a ponytail looked at Kohaku curiously.  
  
"Who's she?"  
  
"Don't look at her, Chihiro, she's a snob." Kohaku pushed Chihiro away with his nose.  
  
Lilly dropped her arms to her side. "WELL, THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!"  
  
"LILLY!"  
  
Lilly turned about in midair, just barely cracking a smile. "B-Bop, there you are." She continued talking as the kids stopped before her. "I was trying to spot people I knew, but nobody seems to want to talk to me."  
  
Do-Wah mumbled into Angela's ear, "Gee, I wonder why."  
  
Lilly hissed at Do-Wah and kept on. "Christobe and Zanna are around her somewhere, they shoul-"  
  
A strong, female voice boomed across the plain. "LILLY OTHALLY AMADEUS!"  
  
"Oh no, my old name..." Lilly sighed and crossed her arms as The Grand Councilwoman strode up to the hovering Saturnian.  
  
"Lilly, I need to have a word with you-"  
  
The Grand Councilwoman sounded mad; it was too bad she didn't get to finish then.  
  
The quiet of the desert was shattered by an ear-piercing roar! A ribbon of red stampeding through the large group of lower beings, stopping before The Grand Councilwoman. The red shape got dangerously close to her face.  
  
"WHERE ARE MY LOWER BEINGS!?" roared Miles. His eyes were bugged, his nostrils flared, and his fangs bared, and yet the green one stood her ground as if she were being assaulted by a butterfly.  
  
"We haven't found them yet, Mr. Caldwagon, but we're looking-"  
  
"FORGET LOOKING!" Miles reared up onto his 22nd pair of legs, the others stretched out threatening to his side. "I want them NOW!"  
  
He slammed into the ground, making the Earth shake for Miles around. The Martians all grabbed onto each other to keep from falling; The Grand Councilwoman stood as steadily as if she had grown up in California.  
  
"Miles, calm down!" Angela wailed. "You're gonna give yourself an aneurysm!"  
  
The long dragon moaned in worry and clenched his head in his first three pairs of arms. "I can't help it. I keep getting this terrible feeling that I ate them and didn't know it. Who knows what could have happened to them when I was under the control of that lunatic!"  
  
2-T laid his hands on Miles' nose to comfort him. "Come on, Miles, you did not eat Annabelle and Zazi, okay?"  
  
Miles glared at him. "How do you know?"  
  
2-T stuttered a bit. "Uh-b-um, I-I-I guess I... don't, but-"  
  
Miles picked himself up and let loose a sorrowful roar; he sunk back down into the desert, sobbing like a baby.  
  
The boy known as Timmy Turner patted Miles' head. "Aw, come on, it's okay. You're-" (he did the quotation marks thing again) "Higher Beings. You can just bring them back to life!"  
  
"I don't have a license for that!" Miles wailed. "Only Higher Beings 55,000 years or older can obtain a back-to-death license!" Miles tapped his chin. "Well, either that, or you'd have to be born a fairy."  
  
Two little puffs of smoke appeared before Miles' eyes; one was pink, and one was green.  
  
"Did someone say fairies?" said the green haired one.  
  
Timmy's eyes suddenly went aglow. "COSMO! WANDA!"  
  
The two fairies gasped unbelievingly. "TIMMY!"  
  
The three plowed into each other and hugged tightly. Angela blushed, but managed to squeeze out an "aww". B-Bop giggled and stuck out his tongue in "disgust", making Cedric and Mike laugh.  
  
"Oh, we missed you, sport!" cried Wanda.  
  
"Come on, Timmy, we've got an unfinished game of Crash Nebula to finish!" Cosmo pulled a wand out of his pocket, it began to glow, and POOF! They were gone.  
  
"Well, they're home, at least." Mike tossed his hair back out of his eyes. "Can I go home now? My mom's gotta be worried sick about me."  
  
Cedric raised his hand. "Ditto!"  
  
The Grand Councilwoman rubbed her temples. "Not yet," she hissed, accentuating each word. "We still have matters of most urgency to discuss-"  
  
"EXCUSE ME!"  
  
The green one huffed and began walking away. "Forget it, I'll catch you when you get home."  
  
"Who now?" B-Bop began to get angry; one distraction after another preventing him from going home, watching a movie, and going to freakin' bed after a big day of Easter parades, battling Higher Beings, and nearly losing some of his best friends in ages. His anger faded, though, as the owner of the voice ran into view.  
  
"Zazini!" B-Bop held up his hand for Zazi to high-five, which she did. "My girl! How you doing?" He stretched himself taller so that he could see Annabelle hiding behind her friend. "And Annabelle, what are you doing here?"  
  
"We're looking for Miles!" Zazi was somehow able to project this despite the fact that she was out of breath. "Have you seen him?"  
  
"Right here!" Lilly waved at the dragon, who was currently staring into space, completely unaware of what was going on around him. "Although, he's kind of out of it, right now..."  
  
Zazi placed her hands on his teeth. "What happened to him?"  
  
"Depressed," 2-T stated.  
  
"He thinks he ate you," Cedric finished.  
  
Zazi blinked, a bit surprised by the statement, but not too shaken. "Oh."  
  
Annabelle gave Miles' ear a soft rub. "Wake up, Miles, it's time to go to bed."  
  
Miles' ear twitched at the touch, and slowly one eye opened at caught sight of both Zazi and Annabelle. A large, blue tear ran down his jaw line and into his fur. "You're alive."  
  
"We know!" Zazi quipped.  
  
"We hid under Zazi's bus." Annabelle whispered. "You didn't look for us there."  
  
Miles stood up slowly. "I'm sure I didn't, girls." He snuggled them into his first arms. "Let's go. I'm tired."  
  
"Okay," said Zazi. She waved to the kids still on the ground. "See you later!"  
  
The Martians and humans and leftover Higher Being waved goodbye. "Bye, Zazi!" Cedric shouted.  
  
Lilly appeared next to Cedric as he finished waving goodbye. He shot her an angry glance. "Why didn't we get a tearful reunion?"  
  
Lilly glared at him. "Shut up and go home."  
  
"Kids are all home, I'm tired, I'm leaving." Lilly began flying upwards, but stopped when B-Bop grabbed onto her tail.  
  
"And just where are you going?" B-Bop yelled, this time genuinely angry at the tailed wonder that was Lillitai Aretha Cor Tiberius XVIII.  
  
"I sleep on the roof," Lilly stated, thumbing towards the ceiling. "Didn't I ever tell you?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Hmph." Lilly phased out of B-Bop's hand. "See you later."  
  
POP!  
  
The Grand Councilwoman, along with Christobe and Zanna, suddenly appeared in the room with a loud bang, scaring 2-T and Do-Wah into firing at them with photon lasers (they fizzled out of existence before they even touched them).  
  
"Lilly Othally Amadeus, I have been watching you and grading your performance!" The Grand Councilwoman swung her hand behind her. "I have thus determined you unfit to take care of your lower beings. Pack your things, I am sending you back to your parents!"  
  
The news hit them like a ton of bricks; the Martians jumped in front of Lilly to try and protect her while Lilly shrunk in terror.  
  
"But- but- but, you can't!" Lilly screamed. "I graduated early! I passed at the head of the class! I'm overqualified to take care of these guys!"  
  
"You may have the grades, but you do not have the skills." The green one counted off on her fingers. "You are impatient, over-expecting, overly absent, not to mention unaffectionate. You know what to do to take care of a lower being, but you have no earthly sense of how!"  
  
"We're sorry, Lilly," Christobe whimpered.  
  
"Your brother is a shining example of just how to take care of more than one lower being; he's a licensed demi-god, for crying out loud!" The Grand Councilwoman patted Christobe's head. "Whereas your lower beings doubt that you even like them at all."  
  
"Hey, don't we get a say in this?!" B-Bop roared.  
  
The councilwoman sighed. "As ordered by the 4th Amendment to the Higher Being Lower Care Act, as soon as the lower being demands that his or her opinion be heard, the Higher Being has no choice but to listen."  
  
B-Bop took that as a yes. "Look, I don't care what the Higher Being rules are, Lilly's our friend! Can't she stay here?"  
  
"And I have to tell you that Higher Beings are not supposed to be 'friends'." The grand green alien peaked her fingers. "We Higher Beings took an oath that we would use our powers to bring happiness to less fortunate creatures than ourselves. We are to be..." She smiled evilly. "Lilly, would you finish?"  
  
Lilly blushed profusely, but recited, "Higher Beings are to act as surrogate parents, soul mates, advisors, comrades in arms, and eternal watchers over their chosen lower beings with full hearted love and devotion... No exceptions..."  
  
"Which you have not been."  
  
B-Bop lowered his eyes in defeat. Lilly patted his shoulder from behind, her purple eyes fogged.  
  
"Can't she get a second chance?"  
  
B-Bop and Lilly turned around swiftly; it was Do-Wah who said it.  
  
"But Do-Wah, you hate Lilly!" 2-T yelled.  
  
"Yeah, but I like B-Bop!" Do-Wah smiled sheepishly. "If Lilly being here means he'll be happy, then... Nothing I can do."  
  
"Second chance!" Zanna tugged on a lock of Christobe's fur. "Christobe, esshto te mo kuuba Big G!"  
  
"Hey, yeah!" Christobe pulled on The green one's cloak. "We could send Lilly back to The Big G to be re-evaluated!"  
  
The Grand Councilwoman rubbed her chin. "That is always a possibility. Lilly, come with me. You are to be re-evaluated."  
  
Lilly let loose a breathe of relief. "There's still a chance!" Lilly looked down and gave B-Bop one last hug. "Hopefully I'll be back."  
  
As The Grand Councilwoman led Lilly away, 2-T caught a hold on her arm. "Hey, who is the Big G?"  
  
"I'm not at liberty to say. But I will give you a hint; look up a synonym for cherub." The Grand Councilwoman winked and disappeared.  
  
The next day, the Martians had the painful job of explaining to the kids about Lilly. And so, the next day, it was Mike's assigned duty to look up cherub and look for clues. He read aloud to a less-than-focused audience. "Okay, so we've got 'God's messenger, archangel, celestial being, di-"  
  
"Woah, waiwaiwaiwaiwaiwait!" Cedric waved his hands quickly to make Mike stop. "Does that mean Lilly's an angel?"  
  
"Woah!" B-Bop yelped out of shock.  
  
"Then that means the guy in charge is-" Angela held her hand over her mouth. "Big G! Oh my go-"  
  
"Exactly!" Cedric shouted, confusing the Martians.  
  
There was another loud POP, and Lilly suddenly appeared hovering above Cedric's head, looking a little blank and wearing what looked like a collar around her neck.  
  
She smiled weakly. "Hey, guys... Girl..."  
  
Cedric hollered in joy and hugged Lilly around her legs, the others soon piling on top of her in a likewise fashion. She stomached the hugs for a while before starting to blush.  
  
"Okay, guys, stop. You can stop now. Stop the hugging, okay, stop, STOP!" She shook herself like a dog until her lower beings let go of her.  
  
"What'd the guy in charge say?" B-Bop asked, his eyes hopeful.  
  
"Well, the Big G said that I wasn't quite competent enough to take care of more than one lower being by myself, but since I had such good grades in school, he gave me this." She slipped one finger under her new, purple collar and tugged it.  
  
"What is it?" 2-T asked, knowing he was about to get his head bitten off.  
  
"It's a training collar," Lilly answered, calmly and sweetly smiling at the lieutenant Martian. "It restricts me from using any abilities outside of my chosen body's capabilities." She got a few blank looks. "It means I can't do anything a Saturnian can't do."  
  
"Oh."  
  
Lilly sighed. "The Big G said that the best way to learn how to take care of Higher Beings better is to work by experience, which is a fancy way of saying I'm STAYING HERE!"  
  
She lunged forward, grabbed B-Bop in her arms, and lifted him into the air. "Oh, I missed you so MUCH! I thought I was never coming back! I'm so sorry!"  
  
B-Bop was speechless; he couldn't do anything except hug her back while everyone else crowded around them. She was back... He'd almost lost her, but she'd come back because she loved them... And that's all he needed to know.  
  
DONE!  
  
Notes time!  
  
Higher Beings: Supernatural beings designated to a mortal creature in order to protect, love, and nurture them. Guardian angels, perhaps? The original idea was that Lilly was B-Bop's guardian angel, but she slowly morphed into Higher Beings... And then back to both. Weird how things work out, huh?  
  
People I believe to Higher Beings (and their lower beings): The Krazoa Spirits of Dinosaur Planet (and all of Dinosaur Planet) Cosmo and Wanda (and Timmy, and all fairy godparents and godchildren in general) H.R. Pufnstuff (and Jimmy) The Grand Councilwoman from Lilo and Stitch (and everything she watches after) Nihigiyama Kohaku Nushi aka Haku aka Kohaku from Spirited Away (and Chihiro) Lilly (and the kids, duh) And other people I didn't list here, like the dragons in the Dragon Tales show 


End file.
